Anything. Can be a slam. Poem. If you say it like this.

I had the entire hostel to myself last night anddddd I felt like a queen. The staff made my bed and did my dishes. 

I did the Vila Magdalena free walking tour. The tour guide started off by telling us that people always ask if she is Chinese or Japanese. She then declared that she is neither - she is Brazilian! I met another Brazilian named Lucas, who was way cooler than me. And I met another American on her bar trip, named Marisol Sternke, who was cooler than Lucas and me combined.

I met a British guy who has been traveling for the past year and who has been robbed six times. He called me a freedom fighter and I told him that the robberies are less of a Colombia problem and more of a you're-an-idiot-knucklehead problem. He was robbed at knifepoint and gunpoint (they got him from the front and the behind) but after talking to him for five minutes I wanted to rob him too. Some travelers are the worst.

But then I met Marisol, who went to GW and took the NY bar. The first thing she said was that she expected to have to take it in February  and we both laughed a bit too hard. She invited me to a slam poetry event in the evening at a cultural center. I thought, is she my Brooke Acevedo in Brazil?!

We parted ways and I went to MASP, or the São Paulo Museum of Art. Free on Tuesdays! The museum was smaller than expected. I'm glad it was gratis.

I met up with Marisol and we chatted about how much law school broke us/is the worst. She is from Kansas and her dad is in the Air Force. She seems too progressive for Kansas. Marisol lived in West Africa for two years and worked at a domestic violence shelter before law school. I sent her to Rosemary.

The slam poetry event was full of girl power - grl DJ, grl poet, grl dancer, grl bartender, and mostly grl attendees. The lady tried to pass the mic to me (can you imagine?!) and I thought about who? The one and only Leslie Knope.

Marisol and I shared a meal and she told me about why she's traveling alone (heartbreak), how she is dealing with life post law school (nightmares) and where she hopes to end up (government). It was refreshing to talk to someone who is on the same rollercoaster. I told her that vulnerability breeds intimacy (a line I love) and she sent me a ted talk the next day about a woman who studies vulnerability. I plan to read her book when I get home.